Heavy Florida Air

I went for a 3.8 mile run this morning here in Gainesville, and the thing I noticed the most was the heavy air. In Seattle, even when it is warm, the air does not feel like its weighing you down. The sun can feel very hot for sure, but the general atmosphere is not heavy. Here in Florida that's completely different. The first two miles felt pretty good and I was keeping a fairly good pace. Just after the turnaround point it felt as though someone had added about 5-10 pounds to my legs, despite the fact that at this point I was going downhill! By the time I got back to the long ¼ mile driveway to the house I was ready to walk! I guess it will just take some getting used to.

So far the diet has been fairly good here in Florida. Yesterday we went to Gator's Dockside, which is a typical sports bar atmosphere along with the food of a sportsbar. We all split some mozzarella sticks to start, but after that I was careful about what I ate. I had a cobb salad, minus all the cheese. I used oil and vinegar as my dressing so that I could regulate that. In the evening I had wonderful Chicken Divan, but that's not too bad calorie wise (I hope J) .

Good Run

I just got back from a long run- I ran 8.5 miles and averaged less than 10 minutes/mile. I'm getting faster!! There was a stiff wind from the south so my mile times heading south were a little bit slower than after I turned around and headed back north. I probably should have had a bit more to eat this morning though as I was not feeling all that strong, but hey, 8.5 miles is pretty good!

Going Sailing

Morning Weight: 3,000 lbs. Just kidding, I didn't weigh myself.

Yesterday I cycled (indoor) for 70 minutes quite vigorously. I hadn't really had that much to eat during the day, so I came home quite hungry. I made the conscious decision to not worry about my caloric intake and ordered a pizza from our local pizza place (literally two blocks away) and had them deliver. It was delicious, I had four slices. I also had some alcohol, but not a lot. This morning I entered all the food I ate into calorie king, along with my exercise for the day, and low and behold, I was still about 100 calories under my net calorie goal for the day (thanks to the exercise!) So on a day I was really trying to be bad I ended up not being so bad!

Today should be a fun day. I am going to do a 90 minute run by the lakeshore with some hills at the beginning and end (that's what you get when you live on a hill). Then later this afternoon, we are going sailing with some friends including a work colleague from Canada, eh. Let's hope the weather cooperates…right now its kind of dark and cloudy…not what someone would consider traditional sailing weather!

Happy Friday

Morning Weight: 182.4 lbs    

Friday is here and I am feeling pretty good about myself. I'm down a full 10 pounds since I started this diet…yes I was down to 181.8lbs a few weeks ago, but that was while I was sick and hadn't eaten much for two days…not a sustainable weight at that point. But now I'm down while eating healthy and exercising. I have to say that at this point, we have been eating healthy and exercising for a month, and its now pretty much routine. That's probably the hardest part of the diet- breaking the routine of eating poorly and not exercising enough. The big test will of course be going to Gainesville next week with Mr Han's on the menu, Gator's dockside for the awesome Mozzarella sticks and of course all the football food! If I come back weighing the same or perhaps one or two pounds more, I will consider that a success. Then it will be right back to the routine as I get ready for the Victoria half marathon. Speaking of which I had a GREAT speed workout yesterday…my heart rate is much lower these days when doing that speed workout (this was the fourth time I've done it) and it didn't seem as hard as it did four weeks ago. Probably means that I will soon have to increase the speed at which I do the repeats, but I'll wait until mid-September to do that. I'm excited about the half marathon, because if I can get down another 5-10 pounds that would mean a difference of 15-20 pounds since my last half marathon in Vancouver in May. I'm SURE that I'll notice a major difference!

On Track

Morning Weight: 183.5 lbs    

Happy to see that this morning my weight is down from my Monday weigh in. Looks like my diet was good in Austin, even if my exercise was nonexistent. I slept very well last night so I'm feeling rested and energetic today, so hopefully that will translate into a good speed repeat workout this afternoon. I can definitely tell that the speed workouts I have done over the past month helped my 10K race, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how what effect they will have on my half marathon time in October.

2:15 AM is no time to get out of bed

That's what time I had to get out of bed this morning (Seattle Time, though in Austin where I was it was 4:15). I had a 5:40 flight to Houston and on to Seattle, so I had to get up ugly-early. This is the first time I have felt jet-lagged just going to Austin and back. I did manage to take an hour nap this afternoon, though so that felt good. Lane and I went for a run together and did 48 minutes/4miles. My legs are still somewhat sore from the 10K race over the weekend…I could definitely feel that about a mile into today's run. With the run today I should be well under my net calorie goal for the day, which is nice. Although I was good while in Austin, I was right at my calorie limit and I could have eaten more…but without exercise that was not an option. Now…back to a regular exercise schedule for the next week. Ah……

Oh and because Annette has been nagging me to post a better looking picture I've gone ahead and done that. I have to say, I reallly feel transformed by this diet and exercise plan! :)

Austin is tough

Wow, I had great ideas about me getting some exercise in while in Austin this week. At least I'm heading back to Seattle tomorrow, and with that back to my normal schedule. I arrived in Austin last night at about 9:00PM. Of course I was hungry at that point, so no going to the gym. Instead I went downstairs and had a relatively healthy wedge salad… compared to all the tempting tex-mex on the menu, this really was a healthy option, despite the bacon bits and blue cheese.

So I thought I would at least get a run in today (Tuesday). But I had to be at a coffee shop to meet my team at 8:15AM and that was a half hour away. I couldn't get out of bed at 6am to run, so I figured I would run at the end of the day. But at the end of the day, I didn't have ANY energy because I had nothing healthy to snack on after lunch, which was at 11:30AM. And a colleague wanted to go out for dinner early and so I caved. At least I ate healthy- I had a sushi roll appetizer and then blackened ahi tuna as the main course.

There's a moral/lesson to this story. The sad thing is that I have learned this lesson countless times before. I have been travelling heavily for business since I joined this company in 2000, so you would think I would abide by my lessons. I'm hoping that by writing it down here I will remember the lesson the next time I travel. (And hopefully, I can get some reminders from my good friends who are reading this! J )

The lesson is simple: Bring healthy snacks with me when I travel so that I can eat a snack midafternoon and be energized enough to exercise when I get back to the hotel. This is soooooooo simple, and it has worked out well when I have done it. The key will be to choose snacks ahead of time and then bring them with me, but let's face it…after a month of planning what I can and cannot eat, this should be relatively easy. I just have to do it. Nike WAS right….JUST DO IT! J

Time to get serious

Morning weight: 185.8lbs.

OK I haven't lost any weight in the past week, not that I'm all that surprised. I didn't hold to my diet this weekend at all really. I guess the good news is that the damage is limited since I didn't really follow my diet at all this weekend. So I will get back on track starting today, which will be easy since I will be in an airplane for much of the day!

Lane and I went on a bike ride yesterday afternoon- my legs and abs are very sore from the 10K on Saturday, so we took it rather easy, though there were a few hills. I had grand plans to go and do a bike ride this morning before heading to the airport, but it is pouring rain outside right now...not good weather to go out and cycle. I hope that I'll be able to get a run in tomorrow in Austin, and I'll be back in Seattle on Wednesday morning, so I'll be able to go to the gym in the afternoon. My goal for this week is to be two pounds lighter by next monday...no cheating on the diet this weekend!!!

Covey Run 10K

Morning Weight: 183 lbs

Now that I'm back at home I'm restarting my morning weigh-ins. I'm glad to see that I remained stable over the past week…I didn't expect to lose much due to hotel food and not much exercise. I started this weekend right by running a 10K run this morning. I actually finished with my best 10K time ever. Now before you get too excited, I should probably note that this is only my second or third 10K ever. I don't normally run this distance…I'm not really sure why. It's a faster race than the half marathon that's for sure. I started out too fast actually, running a 7:30 first mile.. I was not likely or able to keep that pace going for the next 5 miles. But I did average a 8:15 mile for the full race, so that's pretty darn respectable! I finished in 51 minutes, 39 seconds. It was a pretty flat course, so that was helping. My heart rate was in the low 180s the entire time..that's actually too high, but I didn't feel winded as I would normally feel at that heart rate…

Lane ran the 5K and did an awesome job as well. So we're both feeling pretty good about ourselves this morning. Now we'll lounge around for the afternoon, probably nap a little bit and then head to the baseball game this evening to watch the Mariners kick some butt against Chicago. Go Mariners!

British Food

British food is much maligned (often by me). The fact is, a lot of British food does really leave much to be desired, but I've found this week that it can be quite decent. I arrived on Monday and I didn't eat anything on Monday because I wasn't really hungry- I had one bottle of Ensure Strawberry Shake and three beers with a colleague. I brought a 6-pack of Ensure with me to the UK so that I could avoid their heavy calorie breakfasts (and the Haggis that usually is sitting there scaring me). Tuesday I had two Ensure shakes to start my day, then I had a boiled chicken breast over lentils and fresh salsa for lunch. That was actually quite tasty and not high in calories/fat. Last night I had a chicken breast with herbs served over snap peas and rice…again…not that bad!

For today I had something that resembled a ham steak over cabbage for lunch. I cannot remember the word for it, suffice it to say they didn't call it Ham steak. My colleague with whom I had lunch informed me that it was a typical Irish dish. Again, it was actually quite tasty. I've just ordered Spaghetti Bolognese and a side salad for room service Dinner. I don't expect it to be great, but maybe I'll post again after dinner to correct myself. But maybe not.. I would think that I'm about due for a traditional British meal at some point…like the boiled, waterlogged hamburger I oh-so-enjoyed my first trip here for work in 2000. After tonight, its just Ensure and airplane food until I'm back in Seattle!

Travelling this week

Thursday through Saturday I didn't really stick with my diet. I didn't consume mass quantities, but didn't track meals and nutrition. I also didn't weigh myself either Saturday or Sunday morning. But I did one good thing this weekend- I went for a 55 mile bike ride on Saturday. And it was FULL of hills. I basically rode several of the major hills in the "Seven Hills of Kirkland" annual ride that gets a lot of attention around here. It felt good to get some real exercise in again after being sick for the week.

Now I'm sitting in the British Airways Lounge in Seattle waiting for my flight to London to leave. There are all sorts of snacks and drinks available here, but I'm being good. I had two small finger sandwiches to curb my appetite and had some sparkling water. I'm avoiding the free beer/wine/spirits and chips and cookies. I'll be in the UK until Thursday afternoon, so not really a very long trip. I brought my workout gear and hope to get at minimum a speed day workout in. Hopefully I'll have the motivation and time to do a few more workouts than that. I shouldn't be too tempted by the food… standard Brit fare.

Forgot my shoes

So I was supposed to work out at the gym this afternoon. I left work around 3:15 with hopes of doing an hour on the cycle before doing an hour of lifting with my trainer, Michael. So I get to the gym and open my bag, and I find that I'm missing a key ingredient to a great workout. Workout shoes. I picked today of all days to wear loafers to work instead of my sneakers. And I forgot to put shoes into my gym bag. I felt idiotic. I saw Michael an hour before my appointment and told him that I wouldn't be able to work out because I stupidly forgot my shoes. 

Tomorrow I will probably cycle for a few hours to make up for today's lethargy. Plus the fact that we went to Sostnaza's the awesome Italian restaurant in the neighborhood that we went to for Lane's birthday. I had carpaccio and arugula salad to start and then rigatone with venison and pork. YUMMY!!  I didn't eat much during the day, so I don't think I exceeded my caloric intake. Of course it would have helped to work out, but I guess that wasn't in the plan today. 

I'm posting my photo from today... I think it shows the weight loss I've had to date quite nicely. :)

.8 is in

Morning weight: 183.8lbs

I find it interesting that many times when I weigh in, my weight is 18x.8… always .8! I know its not a problem with the scale – it does measure out tenths of a pound. But it is funny.

OK, its not, but I'm grasping for humor here. I'm feeling tired because I stayed up later than normal yesterday. It was my birthday afterall. I finally got back to the gym yesterday and cycled for 45 minutes. Then when I got home Lane and I went to the Bluewater Bistro down the hill from our house for a birthday celebration. I had an awesome Ahi Tuna over Greek Salad and a couple of drinks. Then we had a couple of drinks as our neighbor came over to wish me a happy b-day. She also brought rainbow sherbert with her and waffle cones. I definitely went over my calorie goals for the day, but it was worth it for my 38^th. I suspect my weight is retaining water after having alcohol last night.

Birthday Post

Morning Weight: 181.8lbs

Happy birthday to me, I'm down another pound. I would have thought that as I start to feel better and eat more, that my weight would have remained more or less stable. Well I guess not. I'm not complaining. Its normal for me to drop weight while I am sick, but I am usually pretty quick to pack the pounds right back on as I resume my normal eating habits once I am well. We'll see if this new diet will change that…so far it seems to be.

I got my first compliment from someone at work today- a colleague told me I was looking good and asked me if I had lost some weight! I proudly told him "yes, about 10 pounds over the past month".

I am going to try to go to the gym tonight again. I won't overdo it, but I want to ease myself back into my exercise regime. My biggest worry is that next week while I am in the UK I may not have time to exercise a whole lot. I'll try to sleep the whole flight to the UK so that when I arrive I can go to the hotel gym immediately.

 

Breakfast: Oatmeal

Starting to get better

Morning weight: 182.8 lbs

I didn't really eat a lot yesterday, but a three pound drop is not what I expected. My body must have eradicated a lot of water weight, though I certainly do not feel like I am dehydrated- I basically drank Chamomile tea all day yesterday. Anyway, I'm feeling somewhat better today despite a terrible night of sleep due to the cold medicine I took. It basically kept me from getting deep sleep until it wore off at about 6am. I'm hoping that my recovery continues and that I can start exercising more vigorously in the coming days. I miss running and cycling!

Eating well still:

Breakfast: Oatmeal and a chicken breast.

Lunch: Spicy Tuna Rolls (sushi)

Wishing I was playing Hooky!

Morning Weight: 185.8lbs.

I am sitting at home today because I am still sick. I wish I was staying at home playing hooky! Speaking of Hooky, I looked up hooky in Wikipedia, and they came back with the following terms: bunking off, bobbing, wagging, dogging (Scotland), skiving, beaking (Northern Ireland) or Mitching, going on the hop or going on the lang or "mitching" or "going on the mitch",playing hooky, jigging, ditching, skipping, pipping, sluffing, dipping, kidding, cutting class or a self-motivated field trip, bunking, cutting class, pawning, poning, sculling,wagging, bunking, ditching or jigging.

I had no idea there were so many words for it! Well in any case, I am not Mitching… I am staying at home drinking Chamomile tea and keeping the Kleenex company in good business.

Being Sick Sucks

I've been sick now since last Thursday, and this evening I really feel nasty. The thing is, I understand in the middle of winter when I am run down why I get sick…my defenses are down. But in the middle of summer, when I've been getting plenty of sleep and I've been eating well? I guess that my immune system must have relaxed and then caught a bug. I'm feeling really lazy because of it…I haven't had any good exercise in days…not that I have the energy to exercise vigorously, but I feel lazy for it. It seems that once I had made all sorts of plans to race in different races, that's when I got sick…right when my motivation was at its highest. What a bummer. I'm sure that I'll be fine again by the weekend.

Lunch today: Pho Soup with Steak and Flank

Dinner: Grilled Chicken over salad with green beans and kidney beans and a mustard vinaigrette dressing. Also one skinny cow Chocolate ice cream sandwhich (yum).

And I'm still under for my calorie goal, so I should see what else there is! J

Back on Track

Morning Weight: 185.8 lbs

After a day off the diet on Saturday I returned to my better ways yesterday, and I'm happy with my overall results for the week: 2.2 lbs lost. Considering it was a week where I was sick for most of it and didn't do much in the way of exercise, I'm pleased that for the most part I was able to restrain myself and stick to the diet. It is a bit hard when I don't exercise, because my net calorie target of 1800 is quickly reached.

Anyway it's Monday morning and it really feels like it. Although I slept 9 hours last night I still feel very tired and I'm still sick. I do truly regret bragging to a coworker that I hadn't gotten sick in a long time. She had just taken a week of sick leave with Strep Throat. While I do not have Strep, there must be something else going around- there are plenty of people who have been sick lately.

Breakfast:

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

1 Morningstar Farms Veggie Sausage Patty

Never go to a party hungry

Morning Weight: 188lbs

I went to a party yesterday afternoon to celebrate Seattle's Seafair and watch the Blue Angels perform their show over Lake Washington. The view was fantastic and I took a ton of great photos. The only problem is that I showed up to the party hungry. So I grazed the entire afternoon. I know I went way past my caloric limit for the day, but I'm right back on to the plan today. No parties and no grazing today. I also know that the change in weight today is water weight gain, so I'll drop it again over the next few days.  

Weekend is here

Morning Weight: 186.2 lbs

I spent the better part of yesterday sleeping. I'm still not feeling great today, but better than yesterday and the day before. I came home around 1:15 yesterday and by 1:30pm I was asleep. I slept until 4:45, read email (only three had come in all afternoon, so I'm glad I didn't just hang out at work!), played some X-box, watched a Sopranos episode and then Lane came back from the gym. During this time I was (mostly) not eating, which is definitely a change in behavior for me…normally I would have been munching on something. We went out to a friend's improv show last night and then came back and went to bed and slept for another 8 hours. So yeah, my day yesterday consisted of sleeping!

Today I'm going to attempt some exercise, albeit light. I'll ride a stationary bike for an hour and see how that feels. Not the three hour bike ride that I had scheduled for me today, but there's no way I have the energy to complete that today.

Breakfast:

• Oatmeal
  
• Morningstar Farms Veggie Sausage Patty.

Finally

Morning weight: 186.2lbs

After spending most of the week at the same weight, I finally saw a difference when I stepped on the scale this morning. I think Lane's theory about me retaining water was true. I'm still feeling kind of crappy, so no exercise again for today. (it felt like exercise this morning just walking up the stairs in my house!) I am going to go home early today and take a nap again this afternoon- that definitely helped yesterday. Of course with the road of the Blue Angels practicing for their weekend Seattle Seafair performance, I may not get much sleep!

Breakfast today:

• Oatmeal
  
• Morningstar Farm Sausage Patty
  

Lunch: Pho Soup (eating as I write here)

Still Steady

Morning Weight: 187.8lbs

OK, many people have now commented to me that I shouldn't weigh myself every day because it will be discouraging. However, the fact is that since Monday (57% of a week) my weight has essentially not changed. I can certainly understand day by day fluctuations or lack thereof, but it seems strange to me that for four days my weight has not budged. I know that I have not been over-eating as I have measured my calories and know that I'm coming in at or under target. The biggest unknown for me every day is the Pho soup with Steak and Flank I eat for lunch. I think I've made a reasonable estimate for it calorically, but maybe not.

I have two theories, one supplied by Lane. She thinks that I am losing weight but at the same time retaining water from having too much sodium in my diet. This is certainly plausible… Although I have been tracking sodium, I haven't counted a few things like the beef broth or 1-2 dill pickles I have in the evening. The calories in both are very very low, but Lane is right…the sodium is not. So that could be one explanation.

The second explanation has to do with something Michael said to me on Monday- when your body is recovering from a hard workout (or several) water is stored to help the muscles heal. I had intense workouts on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, so maybe my body is still recovering. I still feel a slight soreness in my legs from Tuesday's run, so that may be.

In any case, I will make some efforts today to avoid sodium…I'll have a salad for lunch and some lean meat and veggies for dinner with no salt. Then I'll see if there's a difference tomorrow. I'll keep to my calorie goals, but just try to eat differently.

Breakfast today:

• Grilled Chicken (I had made it a few days ago and didn't want it to spoil)-3 oz
  
• Slice of 12 grain toast.
  

 

The other thing that's going on with me today is that I started to feel like I was coming down with something last night- I have a ringing in my ears and a sore/phlegmy throat (boy didn't you just want to know all that!)… I'll take today off and try to head home early from work to get some extra rest… I would like to kick whatever this is quickly.

Nice Rest Day

The end of a nice rest day... it was nice to not have to exercise today, though the downside was having to spend 1 hour in traffic. But at least we carpooled so we could chat on the way home. 

For Lunch I had my traditional Pho soup with Steak and Flank and a banana. My snack was an apple and a half portion of almonds. 

For dinner, I was lazy, but kept to my goals. I had a Lean Cuisine Lasagna with meat sauce. Delicious. I also had a bag of popcorn and a popsicle. I entered all of this into Calorie King and I was 104 calories under target and very well balanced in terms of carbs, proteins and fats, without going over on any of them. 

Upcoming Races

One of the major reasons I want to reduce my weight (beyond just the "I'm Too fat" reasons) is that I want to regularly enter some races. Thus, the lighter I am the less pounding on my legs and knees during the race and the faster I will be. I already ran the Vancouver half marathon this year, but that was at my current weight and on a cold rainy day where I was not wearing clothing appropriate to a cold, rainy day. So I've entered a few races and am looking forward to even more.

The two I've signed up for thus far:

• Covey Run 10K in Woodinville, WA on August 18
  
• Victoria Half Marathon in Victoria, Canada on October 7
  

I'm getting excited at the prospect of running a PR half marathon in Victoria…I would have to beat a time of 1:52. My Vancouver time was I think around 2:06. I ran a 1:59 with almost no training in January 2006 (at my current weight-ish), so getting back to 1:52 seems feasible.

Races are funny because every time I sign up for one I get very excited to run it. Then on race day as I drag my butt out of bed at some "ungodly hour" (to quote my Mom)I think to myself, completely bleary-eyed, "Why did I ever sign myself up to do this?" But by the time I start running I know why. But then when I'm done and feeling miserably sore and cold (like in Vancouver this year) I start thinking again why I had signed up for the torture. You can ask Lane- I even told her to remind me of how I was feeling after Vancouver the next time I had the idea to sign up for a race. But two hours later I had already started voicing interest in signing up for the next race.

No Movement

Morning Weight: 187.6lbs

 

For the second morning my weight has not budged (ok 0.2 lbs, but that's negligible). Seems very strange to me, because I almost never weigh exactly the same from day to day, but I guess that's how it goes. I did sleep fairly well last night, but I am still very sore from my Monday workout. Two days after a rough workout seems to be the peak of soreness, so I should be better tomorrow, especially since this is a rest day.

Even with my attempts last night to have a smaller dinner, it was still the largest (Calorically) meal of the day. And despite my attempt to consume more carbs during the day, the dinner I had was still protein heavy and thus kept my overall balance fairly the same. So today I am going to start the day the same way, with the same breakfast and lunch, and then I'm going to try to eat some veggies for dinner with very little meat to keep the protein down. I also want to go from a 700 calorie dinner to more like a 450 calorie dinner. And I need to increase fiber.

Breakfast:

• 1 Morningstar Farm Veggie Sausage Patty
  
• 1 Slice of Orowheat 12 grain bread
  
• 1 tablespoon of lowfat peanut butter
  
• 1 packet of Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
  

 

OK, now I need to get to work…